Research collaboration - the way forward for Europe

A recent EU-supported survey* proves that Europe's citizens see research across Europe as critical to the continent's competitiveness. This echoes the views of DANTE, the organisation behind the world-leading GÉANT2 network that enables collaborative research across Europe.

The research carried out across all EU member states demonstrates the confidence people have in the future growth and the benefits of research and development. Eighty eight percent of those surveyed recognise the importance of pan-European collaboration and believe that it will better serve both European industry (69 per cent) and the national interest (65 per cent) of member countries. Interestingly 60 per cent of the interviewees feel strongly that research is currently under funded and that more money should be allocated to this area.

Co-funded by the European Commission, the GÉANT2 network is a key enabler of pan-European collaboration. With 30 million users in 34 countries it is the largest ever network built for the European research and academic community and offers unrivalled geographical coverage, high bandwidth, innovative hybrid networking technology and a range of user-focused services. GÉANT2 facilitates research in crucial areas such as weather forecasting, climate change, biodiversity and biomedicine where collaboration occurs across the continent. It will also offer point-to-point connections to projects such as CERN's Large Hadron Collider, to connect distributed computing centres with high capacity links at a far lower cost than running a private network.

Dai Davies, DANTE General Manager, commented, "This survey demonstrates the importance European citizens place on research and scientific development, and that it acts as a driver of economic competitiveness in 21st Century Europe. Collaboration across the EU will not only lead to a stronger economy, but will also result in advances that benefit all citizens in their daily lives". We see GÉANT2 as a key enabler of this, allowing researchers across Europe to work seamlessly across borders on cutting-edge research."